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NEW DELHI: With the start summer season in the Sub Continent, the people anxiously wait for the king of fruits, none other than the mango.To popularise organic food in India, a weeklong mango festival was held here this past week. It had over 150 rare varieties of mangoes; all cultivated and ripened using organic and natural methods. The speciality of the fest was that all the dishes put on display had been prepared using organic products and traditional recipes.Some of the rare and unique varieties of mangoes that fascinated maximum attention included coconut mangoes with a size and shape of a fully-grown coconut. ‘Mosambika aam’, which tastes and smells exactly like a Mausmi (sweet lime), ’sugar free’ mangos, ‘Seb Ka Aam’ which looked like an apple, ‘Gulzar’ and other unheard varieties of mangoes.Besides several varieties of mangos being for public display, the organisers had also arranged other special mango delicacies prepared out of these mangoes using organic spices and herbs li...

TOKYO: Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa on Monday expressed his intention to step down as party head to take responsibility for the political funds scandal involving Nishimatsu Construction Co., party sources said.Ozawa reportedly conveyed his intention to DPJ executives, according to the sources.He said he decided to step down because of his strong desire that the DPJ win the next House of Representatives election.Ozawa was to hold a press conference in the evening.Party Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama and Vice President Katsuya Okada are considered strong candidates to succeed Ozawa.Ozawa's state-funded secretary has been indicted over illegal political donations from Nishimatsu, a second-tier construction firm.Though Ozawa has insisted that he did not know the money was donated by Nishimatsu, he is believed to have decided to resign as party head in the face of strong public criticism.As for Ozawa's successor, some are calling for holding a party election, ...

WASHINGTON: A US Army soldier opened fire on fellow soldiers at an American base in Baghdad on Monday, leaving five dead, a US defense official said.The official told reporters at least two others were wounded in the attack at Camp Liberty in the Iraqi capital.The details of the shooting incident remained unclear as media reported the soldier turned the gun on himself. The US defense official told reporters the incident was under investigation.

MOSCOW: US president Barack Obama will make his first official visit to Russia since entering the White House from July 6 to 8, the Kremlin said on its website on Monday.Obama had said following talks with Russian President Dmitry Medevedev on the eve of the G20 summit in London on April 1 that he would visit Russia in July."The president of the United States, Barack Obama, will be on an official visit to Russia from July 6 to 8... at the invitation of the Russian president," the Kremlin statement said, giving no further details.Obama said Thursday he was "hopeful" of improving ties between Washington and Moscow after hosting visiting Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office.The president said his wide-ranging talks with Lavrov focused on Iran, nuclear proliferation, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Middle East, the financial crisis and other issues."We have an excellent opportunity to reset the relationship between the United States and Russia on a whole...

TEHRAN: US-born reporter Roxana Saberi walked free from a Tehran jail on Monday after an Iranian court reduced her prison term for spying to a two-year suspended sentence, a foreign news agency reported.It ends a five-month ordeal for Saberi, who was initially detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison in January and sentenced last month to an eight-year jail term on charges of spying for the United States."The verdict of the previous court has been quashed," her lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. "Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence."The ruling was greeted with joy and relief by Saberi's father, who has been in the country since March to push for her release and was waiting outside the prison to see his daughter.Iran's judiciary confirmed the news, saying that the sentence would be suspended for five years, while a judicial source said that the 32-year-old journalist would be free to leave the country.“She's free to do what sh...

OTTAWA: Extremist attacks across nuclear-armed Pakistan in recent years have made it "the most dangerous country in the world," Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Monday."I'm extremely concerned," MacKay told a press conference. "The instability in Pakistan in my view makes Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world."Around 12,000 to 15,000 Pakistan security forces are battling extremists in three northwest districts in what Islamabad says is a fight to eliminate militants -- branded by Washington as the greatest terror threat to the West.Extremist attacks have killed at least 1,800 people across Pakistan in less than two years and around Pakistani 2,000 soldiers have died in battles with Islamist militants since 2002.MacKay said the Taliban's recruiting and rearming in Pakistan is also harming NATO efforts to rout insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan, where Canada has deployed some 2,800 troops."As long as insurgency is a...

KABUL: The U.S. has accused Afghan militants of using white phosphorus as a weapon in ``reprehensible'' attacks on U.S. forces and in civilian areas.The U.S. military declassified documents Monday showing at least 38 instances in which militants had used white phosphorus in attacks or where weapons had been found in eastern Afghanistan, where the U.S. primarily operates. The NATO-led force supplied information on six other instances in the country.Monday's accusation came two months after an 8-year-old Afghan girl named Razia was wounded by white phosphorus in a battle between militants and NATO troops. Razia has received 10 skin grafts at the U.S. military hospital at Bagram. A U. S military spokeswoman said either side could have caused her injuries. U.S and NATO troops frequently use white phosphorus to illuminate targets and create smoke screens. But human rights groups denounce its use as a weapon, or over populated areas, for the severe burns it causes. Also Monday, t...

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council adopted a presidential statement on Monday calling for "renewed and urgent efforts" to achieve "a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East" on the basis of the two-state solution.Drafted by Russia, the statement --a step short of a resolution, which is mandatory -- was approved at the end of an open council debate. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country holds the rotating council presidency for the month of May, was in the chair. "The Security Council reiterates its call for renewed and urgent efforts by the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders," the statement said.

WASHINGTON: US envoys last week raised concerns with Damascus about Islamic fighters transiting Syria to enter Iraq, the State Department said Monday, following a report that increasing numbers of foreign combatants are making the crossing. Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and National Security Council official Daniel Shapiro raised the concerns Thursday during their second visit to Damascus since President Barack Obama's inauguration, the State Department said. "We continue to have very deep concern about this issue of the flow of foreign fighters going into Iraq via Syria," said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.He urged Syria "to take immediate and decisive action, including better screening of individuals entering Damascus airport, increased security on the Iraq-Syria border, better cooperation with the government of Iraq and denying foreign fighter facilitators safe haven within Syria." The administration last week renewed sanctions against S...

UITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was "appalled" at the killing of hundreds of Sri Lankan civilians caught in the middle of hostilities between the army and separatist Tamil rebels over the weekend, his spokesperson said on Monday.The raging conflict in the north of the South Asian nation between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has claimed thousands of lives in the past several months, Ban said in a statement, read out to reporters by his spokesperson Michele Montas. Voicing deep concern over the continued use of heavy weapons in the conflict zone, a shrinking pocket of land on the northern coastline, he stressed that the "reckless disrespect shown by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the safety of civilians has led to thousands of people remaining trapped in the area." Ban pressed both sides, in the strongest terms possible, to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, reminding them...

WASHINGTON: Expressing "full faith and confidence" in President Asif Ali Zardari, the Obama administration has asserted that it has received assurances from him about safety of the nuclear weapons and on continuing the fight against terrorism in Pakistan."We were assured by President Zardari that they have complete command and control of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan," the State Department Spokesman, Ian Kelly, told reporters in response to a question at his daily press briefing. When asked how the US would verify that, Kelly said "we have full faith and confidence in President Zardari." The State Department Spokesperson termed the last week's meeting of U.S. President Obama and Mr. Zardari at the White House as "very productive".

WASHINGTON: The United States is working with the United Nations to help hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons of the NWFP, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday. “The United Nations brings relief, they (UN) bring humanitarian aid. We are looking at what can be done to help the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the region because of the Taliban and the Pakistani Army’s offensive,” she said. Speaking at the Annual Global Classrooms DC Model UN Conference, the chief US diplomat referred to places experiencing conflict and violence and said, “We worry about displaced people anywhere and everywhere and looking for what more could be done for Swat IDPs.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels accused government forces of killing at least 45 civilians Tuesday in a fresh artillery and mortar attack.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said a makeshift hospital at Mullivaikal was hit on Tuesday morning and those who were wounded in a shelling over the weekend were hit again.Sri Lanka's military denies using heavy weapons in the area and in turn accuse the Tigers of attacking civilians who attempt to escape the small patch of land still under their control.

ROME: Italian police in the southern city of Bari have arrested two alleged members of Al-Qaeda accused of belonging to a terrorist cell that was preparing attacks in France and Britain, Italian news agency reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON: Seeking a new direction in a war that has gone downhill, the Obama administration is replacing the top U.S. general in Afghanistan with a commander who has special-forces experience.Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a senior administrator with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will take the place of Gen. David McKiernan once confirmed by the Senate. Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez will become McChrystal's deputy with the Senate's approval, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked be granted as soon as possible. ``Today we have a new policy set by our new president. We have anew strategy, a new mission and a new ambassador,'' Gates said Monday as a news conference. ``I believe that new military leadership also is needed.'' McKiernan's exit after less than a year comes as more than 21,000 additional U.S. forces begin to arrive in Afghanistan, dispatched by President Barack Obama to confront the Taliban more forcefully this spring and summer.

FLORIDA: The Mars rover Spirit is stuck in soft soil while driving along a low plateau.NASA said on Tuesday that engineers have temporarily stopped sending driving commands to Spirit while they diagnose the problem. The six-wheeled Spirit has five working wheels. Its right-front wheel stopped functioning three years ago. The remaining five wheels sunk halfway into the Martian ground during a recent series of backward drives. Spirit and its twin Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004. Last month, Spirit suffered bouts of amnesia, but has since recovered.

NEW YORK: The number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the swine flu or A (H1N1) virus has increased to 4,694 - double from the last Friday's figure - and also claimed 53 lives around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.According to latest WHO update, Mexico and the US have topped the list of 30 countries where laboratory-confirmed human cases of the virus have been reported. Mexico has 1,626 cases with 48 deaths while the US has 2,532 with three deaths."WHO's pandemic alert level remains at Phase 5 – on a six-point warning scale – as it has for the past several days," Dr Keiji Fukuda, WHO's Acting Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment said."Community-level sustained human-to-human transmission has been documented in North America, in Mexico and in the United States most clearly. We do not see clear evidence of sustained community-level transmission going on in other countries yet," he said.The agency sa...

TOKYO: Washington's point man on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, said Tuesday he would consider visiting Pyongyang in a bid to revive stalled talks on dismantling the communist regime's nuclear programme.Asked about a possible trip to Pyongyang, Bosworth told reporters in Tokyo that ‘this is something we will be considering over the next few weeks.’ But the envoy, wrapping up a tour of countries involved in the negotiations aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programme, said it was too early to say when any visit could happen. "That of course does not depend entirely on us," he added."I think I will go back to Washington now and we will have consultations there... and then probably be in touch with our partners out here in Asia." Bosworth said the United States was prepared to hold bilateral talks with Pyongyang, reiterating the foreign policy of US President Barack Obama.The North vowed to permanently quit the six-way talks after the UN Security Counci...

JERUSALEM: Jerusalem Grand Mufti Mohammed Hussein on Tuesday called on Benedict XVI to work to end Israeli "aggression" against Palestinians, as the pontiff became the first pope to enter the Dome of the Rock.